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Almond Custard Fritters

A sweet fritter made from almond custard batter, fried and sprinkled with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Almond Custard Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, combine flour, eggs, pounded sugar, blanched almonds, and bitter almonds.

  2. Gradually pour in the milk and add butter; stir over medium heat for 15 minutes until smooth.

  3. Spread the custard on a buttered baking sheet to ½-inch thickness and let it cool.

Fry and serve

  1. Cut the cooled custard into 1-inch square pieces.

  2. Dip each piece in beaten egg, then coat with finely sifted bread crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot fat until golden yellow, then drain on a sieve.

  4. Sprinkle with sugar and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the custard and gives it body so it can be cut into firm pieces.
Eggs
Set the custard and bind the coating so the pieces hold together when fried.
Almonds
Add nutty flavour and richness to the custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that cooks with the flour and eggs into a smooth custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard until smooth. Stirring over medium heat for the full time cooks the flour and eggs so the custard thickens evenly without lumps or scorching. A set, smooth custard is needed to cut clean squares that hold their shape during frying.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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